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Family: Asphodelaceae (aloe family)
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants)
> Monocotyledons > Order: Asparagales
There are 15 genera and about 785 species (distributed
over Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand), of which 10 genera and
about 353 species are indigenous to southern Africa. An additional two genera
and 11 species are cultivated in the region.
Genera indigenous to southern Africa
Based on Smith & Meyer (2000).
Aloe About 500 species, native to Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra and
Madagascar, and naturalised in Australia, the Mediterranean, India, China,
South America and the Caribean Islands. About 130 species are native to southern Africa.
An additional eight exotic species are cultivated in the region. |
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Astroloba Endemic to Western and Eastern
Cape (8 species). |
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Bulbine About
50 species worldwide (Africa and Australia) of which 46 species are found in
southern Africa. |
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Bulbinella A total of 23
species, 17 of which are found in southern Africa and 6 in New
Zealand. |
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Chortolirion Only one species Chortolirion
angolense, which is widespread in the summer rainfall region of southern
Africa and is also found in Angola and Zimbabwe. |
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Gasteria
18 species, all found in
southern Africa. |
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Haworthia About 70 species, all native
to southern Africa, mainly in Western and Eastern Cape. |
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Kniphofia (red-hot pokers) About 70
species found mainly in Africa but with 1 species in Madagascar and 1 in the
South Arabian Peninsula. There are 47 species in southern Africa. |
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Poellnitzia Only one species Poellnitzia
rubriflora which is endemic to the Robertson Karoo in the Western Cape. |
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| Trachyandra About 50 species, all African. There are 49 species in southern
Africa, most of them in the winter rainfall area of the Western Cape. |
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Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa
List from Glen (2002), where these genera are placed under
the Liliaceae.
Asphodeline lutea (Yellow
asphodel)
Indigenous to the Mediterranean. |
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Asphodelus
Two species cultivated. |
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Publications
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Glen, H.F. 2002. Cultivated plants of southern
Africa. Jacana, Johannesburg.
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Smith, G.F. & Meyer, N.L. 2000.
Asphodelaceae. In: Seed plants of southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10:
582-586.
National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
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Sölch, A., Roessler, H. & Merxmüller, H.
1970. Liliaceae. Prodromus einer flora von Südwestafrika 147: 1-75.
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